Angry crowd protests postal closings
By MIAWLING LAM
Armed with American ﬂags, colorful
homemade posters and catchy chants,
more than 30 passionate residents rallied
to protest the planned closure of two
Riverdale post ofﬁces.
The vocal crowd braved near-freezing conditions and picketed outside the
Fieldston station last Friday to express
their concerns over the proposed shrinkage strategy.
The Fieldston Station at 444 West
238th Street and the Spuyten Duyvil station at 562 Kappock Street are two of up
to 3,700 branches nationwide that the
United States Postal Service has ﬂagged
for closure.
Of the 29 branches in New York City
currently being studied, 17 are located
in The Bronx.
Riverdale resident Robert S. Gratz said
he was compelled to arrange the “senior
power rally” because the community was
being stripped of an essential service.
Waving a small American ﬂag and
standing on a soapbox, Gratz led the
crowd with chants of “Postmaster General
USA, here’s what Riverdale has to say.
We rock. We rock. Keep our post ofﬁce
on the block.”
The war veteran and community
activist said the closure of either station
would cut seniors off from postal services
and force those without cars to rely on
unpredictable public transportation.
“We feel that the postal service is
looking in the wrong place to make these
cuts,” he said.
“Senior citizens have arrived at a place
in their lives where they deserve a break
and not have to go down to Broadway
on a bus in the middle of winter. It is

Community activist Robert Gratz leads a crowd demanding that the United States Postal Service keeps the Fieldston Post
Ofﬁce, on West 238th Street, open. It is one of 17 Bronx ofﬁces that are being studied for possible closure. Assemblyman
Jeffrey Dinowitz also attended the rally.
a stupid decision and we need to make
more noise.”
During the hour-long rally, Gratz encouraged attendees to write to the postmaster in Washington and express their
dissatisfaction, prompting Assemblyman
Jeffrey Dinowitz to suggest emailing their
concerns as well, “in case they can’t get
it delivered on time.”

Repeating the testimony he delivered
at both public hearings, Dinowitz said the
cost-savings plan would disproportionately affect seniors and disabled residents
in the community.
He also said it was unreasonable for
USPS ofﬁcials to nominate the Kingsbridge
branch, located on Broadway and West
230th Street, as an alternate access point.

“I avoid that place like the plague,” he
said. “They have terribly long lines, they
never have enough windows open.... I can
only imagine how much more crowded
that place would be if they add the people
who use this post ofﬁce and the one on
Kappock Street.”
Andrew Sandler of Councilman G.
Continued on Page 18

P.S. 24 teachers vow: ‘We will not be pressured into silence by parent group’

By MIAWLING LAM
The parent association leadership at P.S. 24 have
ordered their children’s teachers to stop leaking information to the press, insisting that any differences can
be solved internally.
The school’s parents association ﬁred off a terse letter
to staff members earlier this month pleading them to
cease and desist from blowing the whistle on questionable school operations.
However, in an ironic twist, it was the Riverdale Review that last week received multiple copies of the letter
after outraged staff members interpreted the memo as
a veiled threat.
The one-page correspondence, dated November 7, was
dispatched a couple of days after the Review revealed
that an uncertiﬁed teacher was illegally assigned to
a class with special education students and had been
replaced on orders of the Department of Education.

The teacher was removed prior to any story appearing
in the newspaper.
A number of teachers felt compelled to notify the
media about the issue only because principal Donna
Connelly refuses to address their concerns.
However, the school’s elected PA ofﬁcers implored
staff to maintain a code of secrecy.
“On behalf of the parents of P.S. 24, who hold our
school’s administration, and its staff, in the highest regard, we ask that whoever is responsible for these leaks,
to cease and desist immediately,” the letter states.
Members then make mention of Boo Bash, one of the
school’s most proﬁtable fundraising campaigns, and note
that monies raised helped teachers do their job.
“Over 100 parents volunteered. They gave up their
valuable time so that additional funds could go into the
classroom for enrichment,” the letter continues.
“This gives us the right and the responsibility to

request that whatever differences we have—with each
other, or with the administration—that they stay within
our school walls, and be dealt with via the appropriate
channels.”
A person at P.S. 24, who spoke on the condition of
anonymity for fear of retribution, said the letter garnered
a hostile response among staff.
“It was insulting—just the nerve of the PA to raise
anything like this,” the source said.
“Many of the teachers were quite upset about the
letter. If you read between the lines, it’s sort of a veiled
threat in there about the money.”
It is understood that several staff members have
deposited the letters into the PA’s mailbox as a silent
protest.
Another whistleblower at the school, who anonymously sent in an annotated version of the letter, also
Continued on Page 19

Thursday, November 24, 2011 • The RIVERDALE REVIEW

2

Espaillat prepares for Israel trip
By PAULETTE SCHNEIDER
Senator Adriano Espaillat doesn’t want
to arrive empty-handed when he travels
to Israel later this month, so he met with
Riverdale constituents to ask for some
advice on what to bring.
Espaillat is part of a group of legislators
seeking opportunities in Israel for mutual
support. “The purpose of this trip is to
listen, learn, and exchange ideas about
how Americans and Israelis can continue
to work together and strengthen our
bond,” he said.
“I would be delighted to speak with
each of you individually and listen to
your suggestions and advice on how I
can make my Israeli tour as productive as
possible, as well as any general issues you
wish to discuss with me,” the senator said.
“I would be remiss if I came here tonight
and did not ask for your advice on how I
can best support the Jewish community
both here and abroad.”
One audience suggestion was to continue a B’nai Brith-sponsored program
of providing English-language books
to students in Israel. Other suggestions
dealt with exchanges of technology and
educational opportunities.
When Espaillat took ofﬁce as state
senator this year, Riverdale became new
territory for him.
“Up until last year, I used to represent
Washington Heights and Inwood in the
state Assembly,” he said. “When I won the
Senate seat and began representing Riverdale, I didn’t just get new constituents. I
believe I got a new family—a family I am
so very proud of.”
In reaching out to the family, the senator expressed concern over the current
wave of anti-Semitic episodes.
“Whether it’s the most recent incidents
in Brooklyn and Long Island or the disturbing pattern of anti-Semitism around
the country, when it comes to eradicating
anti-Semitism, we are far from the ﬁnish
line,” he said. “That’s why it is so important that we work together and continue
to take a bold stand against discrimination
in all its forms, particularly when it targets
a group that has historically suffered the
most extreme forms of bigotry.”
He also stated his commitment to promote divestment from all commerce with
Iran. “We must punish companies that do
business with Iran and send a clear message that we stand with our friends.”
“I am 100 percent committed to supporting the State of Israel,” he continued.
“We must respect Israel’s sovereignty and
support its efforts to achieve a long-lasting peace while addressing its very real
security needs.”
On the issue of security, one souvenir

he hopes to return with is some insight
into how Israelis cope with the constant
threat of terrorist attacks. On a recent visit
there, he discovered the severity of the
problem and the challenge of defending
against attacks from within.
“With its long and successful track
record of taking on terrorism, Israel is
an excellent model for the United States
to follow in boosting our own homeland
security.”
Senator Espaillat, a state-certiﬁed conﬂict resolution mediator, has helped to
bring about peace hundreds of times at
the Washington Heights Inwood Conﬂict
Resolution and Mediation Center.
Who knows what his involvement in
Israel could lead to?

New answer for school trafﬁc woes?

The RIVERDALE REVIEW • Thursday, November 24, 2011

By BRENDAN McHUGH
Last month, elected ofﬁcials requested
lower speed limits, new signage and speed
bumps for the area around P.S. 24 and
M.S./H.S. 141.
As it turns out, the city has a new
program for doing just that.
On Monday, the Department of
Transportation announced its ﬁrst-ever
Neighborhood Slow Zone in Claremont.
The slow zone reduces the speed limit in
the quarter-square-mile neighborhood
from 30 mph to 20 mph, adds nine new
speed bumps and more than 50 new signs
in the area—both on poles and stenciled
onto the road—alerting drivers to the
speed limit.
Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz, one
of three legislators who wrote to DOT
in October, says Independence Avenue
is a model candidate for the new trafﬁc
safety program.
“Given the area’s proximity to several
schools, a public library, and houses of
worship, I believe this stretch of Independence Avenue would be an ideal location
for a Neighborhood Slow Zone,” he wrote
in a letter to DOT commissioner Janette
Sadik-Khan earlier this week.
“The Neighborhood Slow Zone program includes many of the trafﬁc changes
we had requested for Independence Avenue, such as additional speed humps
and a 20-miles-per-hour speed zone for
the corridor from West 232nd Street to
West 246th Street.”
Along with Dinowitz, state Senator
Adriano Espaillat and City Councilman
G. Oliver Koppell requested the changes
in October.
Among the requests were stop signs
at West 235th Street and Independence
Avenue, a 20 mph zone through the entire
14-block corridor, adjusted trafﬁc signals
at the Henry Hudson Parkway overpasses
at West 232nd, 239th and 246th streets,
and speed bumps on Independence
Avenue.
“We didn’t refer to it as a particular
name, but that’s what’s being requested,”
Dinowitz said. “Now that we know that’s
what the city is doing, we certainly can’t
be told ‘we don’t do that.’”
He plans on ﬁling a formal request with
DOT soon. The city is urging community
boards, politicians and community groups
to request zones. The local community
board must approve any slow zone.
Potential locations for the zones are
evaluated by criteria such as severity of
crashes per mile, the number of schools,
senior and day care centers, and consideration of truck and bus routes and
roadway types.

3

“I’m pleased about this because the
city recognized that in certain locations
this can be very helpful in increasing
safety for pedestrians and drivers as well,”
Dinowitz said.
He highlighted the number of institutions that cater to the young and old, both
of which are demographics particularly
vulnerable to trafﬁc safety.
“This corridor is an ideal candidate
for the program due to the proximity
of several schools, including P.S. 24, P.S.
24 Annex, M.S./H.S. 141, and Riverdale
Temple Nursery School, the Spuyten
Duyvil Public Library, Riverdale Temple,
and the Riverdale Jewish Center,” Dinowitz, Espaillat and Koppell wrote in
the ﬁrst letter.
In announcing the program, SadikKhan said avoiding a deadly accident is
as simple as slowing down drivers.
“Local neighborhood streets are not
highways, they are not shortcuts. They
are where New Yorkers live,” she said.
“A pedestrian struck by a car going 40
mph has a 70 percent chance of dying
while a pedestrian stuck by a car going 20
mph has a 95 percent chance of surviving. Making neighborhoods safer can be
as simple as reducing the speed on our
residential streets.”

Engel calls Balanced Budget
amendment ‘fantasy’
Congressman Eliot Engel (D-NY-17)
criticized the House Republican Majority
for wasting more time on a Balanced Budget Amendment to the U.S. Constitution,
instead of focusing on creating jobs and
other more pressing issues. The measure
failed to generate the two-thirds majority
needed for passage. To view his remarks
from the House ﬂoor - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pMfLCKKpA6o
‘The Balanced Budget Amendment
sounds like good rhetoric, but we live in
the real world and this is just political fantasy. Congress would be severely limited
to respond to changing ﬁscal conditions,
and it would dramatically hinder federal
responses to high unemployment, wars,
other ﬁscal crises or even helping communities with natural disaster relief. It
would also require a super-majority to
ﬁx inequities in our tax code, thus protecting the lucrative tax breaks currently
enjoyed by hedgefund operators and Big
Oil, who pay far less taxes than middle
class families.
‘It is a short-sighted vote which sends
the country through a time machine back
Continued on Page 12

At Monteﬁore,
inspiration starts with our patients.
And stops at nothing.
Monteﬁore is more than a proud Bronx hospital. Our
nationally renowned Centers of Excellence and our
partnership with Albert Einstein College of Medicine
are bringing the world to our door. Our outcomes are
outperforming national averages, and our patient
satisfaction scores are among the highest in the
New York City area.
But although we are recognized for delivering world-class
treatment, we will never compromise our heritage of
providing strong, compassionate care to the people of
our communities ﬁrst.

Wednesday, November 30, is school
spirit day. Students are encouraged to wear
their P.S. 81 gear to school. To stock up on
logo shirts or sweats, contact parent coordinator Nina Velazquez at nvelazquez@
schools.nyc.gov.

M.S./H.S. 141—Riverdale
Kingsbridge Academy

A high school open house event
for eighth-graders and their families is
scheduled for Wednesday, November 30, at
8:30 a.m. To register,
contact parent coordinator Julie Prince at
JPrince4@schools.nyc.
gov.
Friday morning
school tours for parents
of prospective middle
school students who live within the
RKA school zone are scheduled through
December 16. Tours begin at 8:30 a.m. To
register, contact parent coordinator Julie
Prince at JPrince4@schools.nyc.gov.

Horace Mann School

The Caring In Action Day event is on
Saturday, December 3, from 10 a.m. to
2 p.m. in the Lower Division cafeteria.
It is an opportunity for Lower Division
students and their families to participate
in community service projects that beneﬁt
The Bronx community and beyond. Projects will include decorating and stufﬁng
holiday stockings with donated items,
gift-wrapping new toy donations, writing
letters to deployed troops, sorting and
packing canned food for local food pantries, making holiday cards for children
in a hospital, sorting coins, and creating
a mural for the Lower Division community. The Middle Division’s Eighth-Grade
Service Learning Team will assist. A bake

sale will be held in the cafeteria and pizza
will be served for lunch. The day will culminate the coin, coat and new toy drives
that begin on Monday, November 28.

Kinneret Day School

Seventh- and eighth-graders got a
visit from Arizona Iced Tea staff members—owners Joe and Dana Jacober, the
company’s scientist and the marketing coordinator. The students tried their hands
at the process of mixing chemicals before
they got to taste the ﬁnal product. They
were given a tour of the
company’s various facilities via a Smartboard
in the science lab. In a
question-and-answer
session, they posed
intriguing thoughts
regarding both the
scientiﬁc aspect of the
drink and the marketing angle of the
business.

St. Margaret of Cortona
School

The school will build upon its success by
expanding a pilot project started last April
that provided students in kindergarten
through second grade with iPads. Now,
students in grades three, ﬁve, six, seven and
eight will receive the devices for use during
the school day. Pre-kindergarteners will also
get some iPads for their classroom.
In expanding the program, St. Margaret’s
will become one of the few schools in the
state to provide almost every student with an
iPad. The main goal is to eliminate the need
for carrying heavy textbooks, a practice that
causes serious health issues. Using private
donations, the school also purchased 80 ﬁrstgeneration iPads and 14 second-generation
iPads for use by teachers and administrators,
who are seeking textbook publishers geared
toward iPad compatibility.

P.S. 24 videographers snag prize at STEM summit
By PAULETTE SCHNEIDER
P.S. 24 ﬁrst-graders, under the guidance
of instructional technology director Nick
Dembowski, have created an award-winning documentary video using a cast of
LEGO characters.
“When Curious George Came to P.S.
24” earned a prize in the LEGO Smart
Creativity Contest for P.S. 24 in the lowerelementary K-2 segment. The contest
winners were announced at last week’s
Science, Technology, Engineering and
Math (STEM) Summit in St. Louis.
The video’s plot involves the misadventures of the famous monkey as he encounters school staff members—a teacher,
the nurse, cafeteria workers, the guidance
counselor. A catchy percussion-only
soundtrack adds to the excitement.
Interim acting assistant principal
Manuele Verdi enthused about the win
and lauded Dembowski’s efforts.
“He’s really happy,” he said. “To
my knowledge, it is the first time
that we’ve entered this contest.”
Verdi noted students will now beneﬁt
from the prize pool—$2,500 in LEGO supplies, which the 10-year veteran teacher
will share.
To make the video, students performed
research, built the sets, recorded the
voice-overs and employed stop-motion
techniques to animate their characters.
“This got the kids super-excited for
literacy and social studies,” Dembowski
narrates.

The national contest provides a platform where teachers can demonstrate
their classes’ creativity in a project using
LEGO sets. Requirements called for video
submissions no more than 150 seconds in
duration. Content could include students
telling the story, deploying the materials
and accomplishing the animation.
“These videos really show how handson, minds-on learning help today’s
student understand subjects across the
curriculum—not only in technology,
science, engineering and math concepts,
but literature, grammar and social studies
as well,” said Stephan Turnipseed, LEGO
Education North America president.
A link to the fast-moving, engaging
video is available through the school’s
website, ps24school.org.

FAX education news to:

The Riverdale Review
(718) 543-4206
or email to
bxny@aol.com

5752 Fieldston Road
Bronx • New York,
10471

By MIAWLING LAM
Seniors from Riverdale Kingsbridge
Academy passed 55 percent of their Advanced Placement exams this year, new
ﬁgures reveal.
Data recently released by the College
Board, which administers the AP tests,
shows slightly more H.S. 141 students enrolled in the rigorous program in 2011.
Despite the spike in students completing the challenging college-level courses,
RKA’s passing rates have plateaued.
Figures reveal that the high school’s
students were deemed proﬁcient in 108 of
the nearly 200 exams they took this year,
equating to a 54.5 percent success rate.
In comparison, of the 133 pupils who
took 184 AP exams last year, 119 came
back with a score of three or higher,
translating also to a 54.5 percent passing rate.
Under the unorthodox AP scoring
system, students must record a score of
three or higher on a point scale of one
to ﬁve to be considered proﬁcient in the
subject they are tested on.
The school’s performance means RKA
is ranked 38th out of more than 240 city
high schools.
Among public schools in The Bronx,
RKA is ranked sixth out of 64 schools
and, unsurprisingly, trail their peers in
the borough’s two ﬂagship specialized
high schools.
Bronx High School of Science, widely
considered the nation’s leading science
school, recorded a pass rate of 88.9 percent
on their AP exams, while High School
of American Studies registered an 81.4
percent success rate.
As of press time, calls to the school
were not returned.
Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz said
he was pleased with RKA’s overall standing.
“There’s always room for improvement but the fact that they’ve ranked
high amongst the city as a whole is very
good news,” he said.
“Hopefully things will continue to
move in that direction.”
Once the hallmark of elite, collegebound high-school graduates, the AP
program has exploded in popularity
in recent years on the back of higher
student aspirations and teacher encouragement.
Depending on a college’s criteria,
students may earn early college credits
on the back of their AP results.
But ﬁgures suggest the citywide rise in
test-takers has failed to translate in a lift
in overall student performance.
According to the Department of Education, the number of city high school
students taking AP exams jumped by
seven percent, to 29,767, this year. The
percentage of seniors passing these tests
also rose by the same ﬁgure, thereby
erasing any improvements.
Black students were among a few ethnicities that bucked the trend, with 12.7
percent more scoring a passing grade of
3, 4 or 5 in 2011 than last year.
Schools Chancellor Dennis M. Walcott trumpeted the ﬁgures and said that
participation on AP exams has increased
by more than 31 percent since 2006,
while passing rates have climbed 31.5
percent.
“The more our students are exposed
to college-level tests and courses, the
better prepared they will be for life after

high school,” he said in a statement last
month.
“In a year when so many students took
these tests for the ﬁrst time, I’m proud of
their impressive gains on the APs…”
High schools in Manhattan dominate
the list of top-performing schools, accounting for nine of the 20 highest ranks.
Stuyvesant High School, a highly competitive selective school in Battery Park,
topped the table with an AP passing rate
of 96.2 percent.
Staten Island Technical High School
ranked second with their 90.5 passing
rate, followed by Bronx High School of
Science, Millennium High School and
Manhattan Bridges High School rounding
off the top ﬁve.

Peter & The Wolf

5
The RIVERDALE REVIEW • Thursday, November 24, 2011

Over half at RKA gain AP credit

Thursday, November 24, 2011 • The RIVERDALE REVIEW

6

Simon Center’s program of
Thanksgiving memories

The Simon Senior Center located at the
Riverdale YM-YWHA at 5625 Arlington
Avenue is pleased to present a special
program@ 10:30am on Friday November
25th with Margalit Schwartz , social work
intern from the Wurzweiler School of
Social Work. Ms. Schwartz will lead an
interactive discussion on Thanksgiving
Memories and attendees will recall their
favorites Thanksgivings of yesteryear.
Following the session @ 12noon a kosher lunch will be served in the dining
hall. Suggested donation is $2.25. The
entire community is welcome.
For further information and registration please call Toby or Vicki @ 718-5488200 x223/224.

RCS invites singers for
2012 concert season

The Riverdale Choral Society invites
singers to join them in the second of
three concerts of their 2011-2012 concert
season. This concert, entitled ‘Northern
Lights - Music of Northern Europe’,
features pieces by such composers as
Norway’s Edvard Grieg, Rachmaninoff,
Estonia’s Arvo Paart and others.
Music Director John Lettieri will begin
rehearsals for the March 18, 2012 concert
on Wednesday, November 30, 2011 at
7:30 p.m.
Since 1964, the Riverdale Choral

Society has been bringing joy to the
community through performances of
high-quality choral music. Our welcoming, diverse group of men and women
rehearses weekly under professional artistic direction, singing both traditional
and adventuresome repertoire. Through
live concerts and community outreach,
the chorus enriches the cultural life of
the greater Riverdale area.
If you are an experienced sight-reader or
even if you do not sight-read but have a good
musical ear you can schedule an informal
audition with Music Director John Lettieri by
sending an e-mail to riverdalechoral@gmail.
com, or calling 718-543-2219. Or you may
sign up for an informal audition at our open
rehearsal on Wednesday, November 30th
at 7:30 PM. Choral rehearsals will be held
every Wednesday from 7:30 to 9:45 PM at
Christ Church Riverdale, 252 St. and Henry
Hudson Parkway East, where there is street
parking available and easy access to public
transportation.
Additional information can be obtained at the RCS web site: www.riverdalechoral.org.

Chabad of Riverdale
announces activities

For the past 17 years, Chabad Lubavitch
of Riverdale’s Toys for Tots Campaign
has distributed toys, games and gifts to
hospitalized children during the holiday
season. Donations of unwrapped toys or
checks payable to Chabad of Riverdale

T.H.C. Campaign are welcome. They are
also looking for volunteers to distribute
the toys at the hospitals on December
21st, 22nd & 26th. Please call Deborah at
718-549-1100 ext. 10 to register.
They will be hitting the ice on Chanukah at Central Park’s Trump Wollman
Rink. The public is invited on the ﬁrst
night of Chanukah, Tuesday, December
20th, from 6:00 - 9:00 p.m. Register online
at Chanukahonicenyc.com. Online admission is $22 for adults, $18 for children
ages 3 - 14. At the door, admission is $25
for adults, $20 for children ages 3 - 14.
Special group rates are available.
Jewish Women’s Circle Invites Women
& Teens to a pre-Chanukah morning with
Joanne Caras, creator of the Holocaust
Survivor Cookbook. Joanne’s cookbook is
a collection of recipes and stories of over
120 Holocaust survivors. She will share
the incredible story of how the cookbook
was created, and relate several of the most
moving and miraculous stories that appear
in the book. This event will be held on
Sunday, December 11, 2011 from 10:30
am - 12:00 pm at 4684 Grosvenor Ave.
Admission will be $36 to participate as a
donor, $25 as a sponsor, $18 as a couvert
and $10 for teens who are accompanied by
an adult. Autographed cookbooks will be
available for purchase. All proceeds from
cookbook sales beneﬁt Carmei Ha’ir Soup
Kitchen in Jerusalem. For more information, to reserve a cookbook or RSVP,
call Suzanne: 914-709-0308
For more information on Chabad of
Riverdale and details of Chanukah events
log on to www.ChabadRiverdale.org or
call (718) 549-1100 ext 10.

Monteﬁore ranked among
best hospitals in the
Northeast in key areas

Monteﬁore Medical Center was honored
yesterday as a top provider of outstanding
patient care and safety by The Northeast
Business Group on Health (NEBGH), a network of employers, providers and insurers
working to improve the quality and reduce
the cost of healthcare in New York, New
Jersey, Connecticut and Massachusetts and
The Leapfrog Group, an employer-backed
health advocacy organization.
This honor was based on a rigorous
review of participating hospitals in the
New York metropolitan area and is a
prestigious, nationally-recognized seal

of approval. Monteﬁore was one of only
two area hospitals that received this
distinction.
“Monteﬁore is honored to be recognized as a leader in delivering the best
quality of care in the region,” said Steven
M. Safyer, MD, President and CEO of
Monteﬁore Medical Center. “The NEBGH
award reﬂects our success in implementing innovative practices focused solely
on delivering the highest quality of care,
having exceptional results and ensuring
the best experience for our patients, their
families and communities.”
This award was based on a rigorous
review of participating area hospitals
conducted by The Leapfrog Group, a coalition of public and private purchasers of
employee health coverage dedicated to
improving healthcare safety, quality and
affordability. Leapfrog assesses hospitals
on a range of quality and safety practices
including Computerized Physician Order
Entry to prevent medication errors, ICU
stafﬁng models and measures of quality of
care for a number of complex conditions
and procedures. Leapfrog also benchmarks
hospitals on over 30 practices that reduce
the risk of medical errors and hospitalacquired infections, and improve patient
outcomes. This data-driven approach is the
most comprehensive measure of hospital
quality available today.
“Since 1996, Monteﬁore has been a
pioneer in electronic health records, medication safety, innovative ICU stafﬁng and
safe interdisciplinary team care practices.
Our accomplishments in these areas have
been instrumental in preventing errors
and delivering high quality care,” said
Rohit Bhalla, MD, MPH, Chief Quality
Ofﬁcer at Monteﬁore Medical Center.
“As healthcare costs rise and our
population ages,” said Laurel Pickering,
President and CEO of NEBGH, “our nation
is looking to hospitals, such as Monteﬁore
Medical Center to develop new ways of
providing better care, greater value, and
the highest levels of patient safety.”
“Every year, more people die in hospitals from preventable mistakes, than
from vehicle accidents, breast cancer and
AIDS,” said Leah Binder, CEO of The Leapfrog Group. “Monteﬁore Medical Center
is a leader - in the region and across the
nation - in its commitment to patient
safety and better health for employees,
retirees and their families.”

Visitation School to hold
holiday sale

Visitation School’s Parents Association will hold a Holiday Sale on Sunday,
Dec. 4, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., at 160 Van
Cortlandt Park South.
Local vendors from the Bronx, Manhattan and Westchester offering a variety of
gift and everyday items have signed on
for this special sale event.
Food and refreshments sold. Free admission and parking.

On Tuesday, November 29th the Simon
Senior Center located at the Riverdale Y
at 5625 Arlington Ave, will present Mark
Tobak in concert at 1:00 pm. Mr. Tobak,
a renown pianist, and has given piano
concerts throughout the NY metropolitan
area. He will entertain the audience with
a program of classical music and popular
Broadway show tunes.
All are invited to enjoy a kosher luncheon preceding the concert. Please register in advance before 11:45 am. Suggested
luncheon donation is $2.25.
For further information please contact
Vicki or Leora @ 718-548-8200 x224 or
204.

and How to Pay For It.’
Rabbi Steven Exler of the Hebrew
Institute of Riverdale will be giving an
introduction.
The presentation will focus on caring
for those with severe memory impairment. The speakers will be followed by a
vendor fair featuring organizations and
individuals who specialize in the area of
aging/elderly care.
Richard Langer, executive director of
the Hebrew Institute of Riverdale, said:
‘The Hebrew Institute is excited to serve
as a community resource and to bring this
vital information to our members and the
entire Bronx community.’
For more information, contact the
Hebrew Institute of Riverdale at 718-7964730 ext. 101 or ofﬁce@thebayit.org.

Workshop on caring for
aging loved ones

CSAIR presents ‘Muslim
Perspectives on the Judaism’

On Sunday, Dec. 4, from 10 a.m. until
12:30 p.m., the Hebrew Institute of Riverdale (3700 Henry Hudson Parkway) will
host a workshop entitled, ‘Caring for Our
Aging Loved Ones.’
Keynote speaker Anna Kirshblum of
the Jewish board of Family Services will
give a presentation entitled, ‘Letting
Go, Holding On: Caring for People with
Memory Impairment.’
Special guest speaker Debra Drelich of
the New York Elder Care Consultants will
give a presentation entitled,, ‘Caring for
Aging Loved Ones: What Help is Available

Dr. Mehnaz Afridi, director of the
Manhattan College Holocaust Center,
will speak at the Conservative Synagogue
Adath Israel of Riverdale on Wednesday,
December 7, at 7:45 p.m.
Her topic will be ‘Muslim Perspectives
on the Holocaust, Jews and Judaism.’
Dr. Afridi will discuss the lack of education in the Muslim world of the Holocaust
and Judaism and why the Holocaust is not
as signiﬁcant - and at times denied - in
the Muslim world. She will also explore
the history of modern Jewish-Muslim
relations, the new anti-Semitism and Is-

lamophobia, and will present next steps
and hope for Jewish-Muslim relations.
This program is presented by the CSAIR
Adult Education Committee. It is free and
open to the entire community.
CSAIR is located at 475 West 250th
Street. For more information, call the
synagogue ofﬁce at 718-543-8400 or visit
www.csair.org.

Van Cortlandt Senior Center
upcoming activities

Dancing Crane Georgian Performing
Arts ensemble will present a stunning
program of ethnic dance on Sun. Dec.
11th at 1:15 PM. A festive lunch will
be served at 12:15 PM followed by the
performance. Georgian dance has a style
all its own containing strength, elegance
and graceful movement. The company
presents dances and songs in authentic
costumes from all regions of Georgia
including mountain dances with swords,
elegant court dances, reﬁned women’s
dances and regional folk dances.
Dancing Crane Georgian Performing
Arts aims to convey a sense of living art to
all ages and to serve as a bridge between
Georgian traditions and American cultural
life. The senior contribution for the meal
is $2.00 and $2.00 for the entertainment.
All ages are welcome. To reserve for lunch,
call the center ofﬁce 718-549-4700 by
Wed. Dec. 7th.
On Thurs. Dec. 8th at 11:15 AM, FDNY
will provide an educational presentation

7
The RIVERDALE REVIEW • Thursday, November 24, 2011

Free concert at the
Riverdale YM-YWHA

on Fire Safety.
Ari Leshans, international keyboard/
vocals, will entertain at our Nov./Dec.
birthday party on Thurs. Dec. 15th at 1:00
PM. Senior contribution for the meal is
$2.00 and $1.00 for the entertainment.
Hudson Pointe at Riverdale will sponsor a Ginger Bread House Party on Tues.
Dec. 20th at 1:00 PM. Lunch is served at
12:15 PM.
Yale Strom Klezmer Trio will usher in
Hanukkah at JASA Van Cortlandt Senior
Center on Thurs. Dec. 22nd at 1:15 PM.
Yale Strom is an accomplished klezmer
violinist who has devoted his life to collecting and preserving music and culture
of Eastern Europe from the Yiddish and
Roma (gypsy) traditions. A holiday meal
will be served at 12:15 PM. Suggested
contribution for lunch is $2.00 and $2.00
for the entertainment.
We are offering two exciting day trips to
China Town on Dec. 7th and Rockefeller
Center on Dec. 21st . For information and
reservations, please contact Maritza Silva
at 718-549-4700.
Classes in Fitness, Movement, Tai Chi,
Yoga, Tone & Stretch, Painting, Knitting,
Current Events and Short Stories, Indoor
Gardening, Line Dancing, Jewelry Making, sing-along, computer lab and more
are offered at JASA Van Cortlandt Senior
Center. We are located in the Van Cortlandt Jewish Center at 3880 Sedgwick Ave.
off of Van Cortlandt Ave. West on the
Bronx #1 or #10 bus routes. We are nonsectarian. Seniors age 60+ may register for
free. For more information, please call the
center ofﬁce at 718-549-4700.
JASA Van Cortlandt Senior Center is
funded by NYC Dept. for the Aging, UJAFederation of NY and by special grants
from Council Member Oliver Koppell and
other NYS representatives.

Kingsbridge

Thursday, November 24, 2011 • The RIVERDALE REVIEW

8

BUDGETING FOR THE HOLIDAYS
2 p.m. Kingsbridge Branch Library
291 West 231st Street
Do you dread the holiday season? Never fear, we have some
holiday saving tips that may reduce your holiday stress. This
program helps participants plan ahead and budget for holiday
expenses. Let’s bring the joy back into the holiday season. For
more information, call 718-548-5656.

Sunday, December 4
Van Cortlandt

Friday, Nov. 25
Riverdale

THANKSGIVING MEMORIES
10:30 a.m. Riverdale YM-YWHA
5625 Arlington Avenue
Margalit Schwartz will lead an interactive discussion on
Thanksgiving Memories and attendees will recall their favorites
Thanksgivings of yesteryear. Following the session @ 12noon
a kosher lunch will be served in the dining hall. Suggested
donation is $2.25. The entire community is welcome. For
further information and registration please call Toby or Vicki
@ 718-548-8200 x223/224.

Monday, Nov. 28
Riverdale

COFFEE HOUR
10 a.m. Riverdale Branch Library
5540 Mosholu Avenue
Start off your week with a cup of coffee at the Riverdale
Branch. Read newspapers , catch up on current events, or just
enjoy a friendly game of Chess. All in our Community Room.
For more information, call 718-549-1212.

Spuyten Duyvil

KNITTING & CROCHET
11 a.m. Spuyten Duyvil Branch Library
650 West 235th Street
A get-together for knitters and crocheters at all skill levels
to work on a current project, learn new techniques, or even to
begin a new craft. All skill levels are welcomed. Pre-registration
not required. For more information, call 718-796-1202.

Spuyten Duyvil

READING ALOUD
4 p.m. Spuyten Duyvil Branch Library
650 West 235th Street
A librarian will share favorite picture books, providing
children with the wonder of books and the joy of reading. For
ages 5 to 12 years old. For more info, call 718-796-1202.

Kingsbridge

ANIME NIGHT
4 p.m. Kingsbridge Branch Library
291 West 231st Street
Want to see the hottest new anime? Come check out what’s
on screen at the library. Bring your friends, your pocky, and
your anime and manga fandom! For ages 12 to 18. For more
information, call 718-548-5656.

Riverdale

CB8 MEETING
19:30:00 Community Board 8
5676 Riverdale Avenue
Meeting of the Housing Committee of Community Board
8. For more information, call 718-884-3959.

Tuesday, Nov. 29
Spuyten Duyvil

BABY LAPSIT
11 a.m. Spuyten Duyvil Branch Library
650 West 235th Street
Babies from birth to 18 months old and their parents/caregivers can enjoy great books, lively songs, and rhymes, and
meet other babies in the neighborhood. For more information,
call 718-792-1202.

Riverdale

BABY STORY TIME
11:30 a.m. Riverdale Branch Library
5540 Mosholu Avenue
Babies from birth to 18 months old and their parents/caregivers can enjoy great books, lively songs, and rhymes, and
meet other babies in the neighborhood. For more information,
call 718-549-1212.

Riverdale

FREE CONCERT
1 p.m. Riverdale YM-YWHA
5625 Arlington Avenue
the Simon Senior Center will present pianist Mark Tobak in
concert. He will entertain the audience with a program of classical music and popular Broadway show tunes. All are invited to
enjoy a kosher luncheon preceding the concert. Please register
in advance before 11:45 am. Suggested luncheon donation is
$2.25. For further information please contact Vicki or Leora
@ 718-548-8200 x224 or 204.

Riverdale

YOGA EXERCISE
3 p.m. Atria of Riverdale

3718 Henry Hudson Parkway
Yoga Exercise to the music of the Big Band Era with Ellen
Cooper. RSVP: Jane Kennedy 718 432 2448

LUNCH AND LEARN
12 p.m. Riverdale YM-YWHA
5625 Arlington Avenue
Professor Saul Silas Fathi will give a presentation on the world’s
trouble spots including Iraq, Iran and Afghanistan with insights to
the future of US relations with these countries. All are welcome to
attend but advance reservations are required. Admission is $5.00
per person which includes a kosher lunch. For info please contact
Toby or Vicki at the Y @ 718-548-8200 x223/224.

FALL ARTS & CRAFTS
15:30:00 Van Cortlandt Branch Library
3874 Sedgwick Avenue
Come to the Library this Fall and participate in arts & crafts
projects. Parental supervision is required for children 5 years
and under. For more information, call 718-543-5150.

Riverdale

READING ALOUD
4 p.m. Riverdale Branch Library
5540 Mosholu Avenue
A librarian will share favorite picture books, providing
children with the wonder of books and the joy of reading. For
more information, call 718-549-1212.

Thursday, December 1
Spuyten Duyvil

TODDLER STORY TIME
10:30 a.m. Spuyten Duyvil Branch Library
650 West 235th Street
Toddlers from 18 months to 3 years old and their parents/caregivers can enjoy interactive stories, action songs,
and ﬁngerplays, and spend time with other toddlers in the
neighborhood. For more information, call 718-796-1202.

GAME ON
4 p.m. Kingsbridge Branch Library
291 West 231st Street
Come have some fun playing the latest XBox 360 games
with Kinect at the Kingsbridge Library! For ages 12-18. For
more information, call 718-548-5656.

Friday, December 2
Kingsbridge

TEEN ADVISORY GROUP
4 p.m. Kingsbridge Branch Library
291 West 231st Street
Let your voice be heard in the Kingsbridge Library’s Teen
Advisory Group! TAG meetings will be held on Friday afternoons
from 4-5 pm. If you are a 7th -12th grade student, you are eligible
to join. For more information, call 718-548-5656.

Saturday, December 3
Kingsbridge

READING HOUR
1 p.m. Kingsbridge Branch Library
291 West 231st Street
Youngsters 3-12 years old are invited to a reading program
sponsored by the Rotary Club. For more information, call Karen
Pesce at 718-549-4469.

WORKSHOP
10 a.m. Hebrew Institute of Riverdale
3700 Henry Hudson Parkway
A workshop entitled, “Caring for Our Aging Loved Ones,”
will focus on caring for those with severe memory impairment.
For more information, contact the Hebrew Institute of Riverdale
at 718-796-4730 ext. 101 or ofﬁce@thebayit.org.

By MIAWLING LAM
More than 30 children are being
crammed into classrooms as local schools
battle overcrowding and devastating
budget cuts.
Preliminary class size data, released by
the Department of Education last week,
shows student numbers have ballooned
across the city this year.
P.S. 24 fared the worst among Riverdale’s three public schools and recorded
the highest student-teacher ratio of
16.8.
Figures shows a ﬁfth-grade class at the
Spuyten Duyvil school has as many as 32
students on its books, while the average
Kindergarten class houses 24.8 students
– right at the legal limit.
In comparison, P.S. 81 enjoys a lower
student-teacher ratio at 14.8, as well as
smaller classes.
According to the city’s ﬁgures, the
largest class at the Robert J Christen
school is a fourth-grade one, which has
30 children on its registers.
On average, there are also 22.5 students
assigned to each P.S. 81 Kindergarten
room, while ﬁrst-graders enjoy a mean
of 27 children in their classes.
Meanwhile, Riverdale Kingsbridge
Academy recorded an overall studentteacher ratio of 16.3.
Average class sizes at M.S/H.S 141 range
from 31.3 students in sixth-grade to 23.7
teenagers in chemistry and 32 in each of
the 10 living environment classes.
One of the school’s global history
and geography class even boasts 35 students,
Under the UFT’s contract, Kindergar-

ten class sizes are limited to 25 students,
32 in grades one through six, and up to
34 in the upper grades.
As of press time, calls to each of the
three schools were not returned.
Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz blamed
the super-sized classes on systemic austerity measures.
“The increase in class size is solely a
function of funding, or lack thereof,” he
said. “If there was more money for the
schools, we would be able to prevent the
increase in class size.”
Dinowitz said extending the millionaire’s tax would boost funding but Mayor
Michael Bloomberg remains staunchly
opposed to the idea.
“The administration is very good at
pointing ﬁngers elsewhere,” he said.
“One of the places the administration
might want to point its ﬁnger at is in the
mirror, speciﬁcally the Mayor. I strongly
urge him to reconsider his opposition to
the millionaire’s tax, which would continue to help generate signiﬁcant revenue
for the state and therefore the city.”
Citywide, class sizes rose by nearly one
student per class.
Ofﬁcials said the average elementary
class size rose nearly three percent this
year, from 23.7 to 24.4 students.
In middle school, classes spiked to
27.1 students, from 26.8, while high
school classes increased to 26.8 students,
up from 26.4.
In real terms, it means there are now,
on average, two more Kindergarteners
per class than there were in 2008, and
roughly three more third graders in each
Continued on Page 11

9
The RIVERDALE REVIEW • Thursday, November 24, 2011

Class sizes increase at local schools

Thursday, November 24, 2011 • The RIVERDALE REVIEW

10

DISH Network - more of what you want
for less than you’d expect.
Packages starting at

By MIAWLING LAM
Straphangers who ride the Bx7 and
Bx10 buses could soon face an easier
evening commute.
The MTA has vowed to examine
ridership volumes on both lines after residents complained about gross
overcrowding and the lengthy wait at
the West 231st Street and Broadway
bus stop.
Community Board 8 land use chair
Charles Moerdler, who also sits on the
MTA Board, announced the latest win
for Bronx commuters at a general board
meeting on November 9.
“At the request of Assemblyman [Jeffrey] Dinowitz, the president of the bus
division of the MTA has put a study in
motion,” he said.
“My hunch is that if they can show
with the checkers that this is a concern,
we should be okay.”
Dinowitz welcomed the news and said
he was optimistic that additional buses
will run during the peak rush hour from
4 p.m. to 9 p.m.
“I’m hopeful that we can get some
extra runs during the evening rush hour,
certainly from 231st Street up to the
Yonkers city line,” he said.
“If you had just a couple more buses,
it would signiﬁcantly alleviate both the
length of the wait and the overcrowding.
I think it’ll make a world of difference for
a lot of people.”
Although he conceded the cashstrapped agency wasn’t in the best economic shape, Dinowitz said the situation was
out of control and had to be addressed.

“If you’ve ever seen the evening rush
hour, it’s a mob scene. The waits are very
long and it’s very crowded,” he said.
“We understand there are cutbacks. But
nonetheless, the idea of mass transit is to
provide a service to people so they can
move from one place to another.”
Typically, nearly 50 straphangers can
wait as long as 15 minutes for the Bx7
and Bx10 buses at the already busy intersection during the evening commute.
The queue often reaches the Popeye’s on
West 231st Street, about 15 to 20 yards
down the block.
Once a bus ﬁnally arrives, it takes
commuters at least another ﬁve minutes
just to board.

Class sizes

Continued from Page 9
class than four years ago.
Department of Education spokeswoman Barbara Morgan said the increase
was a direct result of $1.7 billion in state
and federal budget cuts.
“We fully anticipated that class sizes
would rise modestly and we are pleased
that the increase is below what we initially
projected,” she said.
Schools Chancellor Dennis M. Walcott
predicted last May that average class sizes
would jump by two students this year.
A UFT survey released in September
also revealed that nearly 7,000 city classes
were bursting at the seams and that 355
elementary and middle schools in The
Bronx were overcrowded.

11
The RIVERDALE REVIEW • Thursday, November 24, 2011

Relief in sight for local bus commuters

Thursday, November 24, 2011 • The RIVERDALE REVIEW

12

Public recycling bin program to be expanded here

By BRENDAN McHUGH
A popular city recycling
program is expanding in Riverdale.
The Public Space Recycling
program run by the city’s Department of Sanitation asks
businesses, nonproﬁts and local groups to manage recycling
cans on the streets of New York.

Engel
Continued from Page 3
to 1995, not-so-coincidentally
the last time a radical Republican majority was in power.
This amendment effectively ties
the hands of the Congress and
renders it helpless to protect
our citizens when hurricanes,
such as Irene, destroy homes. It
leaves Congress on the sidelines
when Americans are out of work,
such as they are today. It stiﬂes
many options to respond to
international crises which could
threaten our national security.
It would also lead to trillions
of dollars of Draconian cuts to
our social safety net - Medicare,
Medicaid and Social Security and signiﬁcant tax hikes on the
middle class.
‘This is not the proper course
for our country and I urge my
Republican colleagues to stop
listening to the Tea Party radicals whispering in their ear and
instead work with Democrats to
ﬁnd responsible solutions to the
problems facing our country.’

More than 200 of these cans are
placed throughout Manhattan,
but only 70 are in The Bronx,
with just six in the Community
Board 8 area.
The good news for local residents is that at least two more
are coming to the neighborhood,
and the city will be looking for
more volunteers to manage
them.
Sanitation’s chief of collection and recycling operations
Peter McKeon says the Riverdale
Neighborhood House and Gary
Wartels of Skyview Wines &
Spirits are “adopting” bins. Both
are part of the North Riverdale
Merchants Association.
“We’d like to get as many as
we can in the outer boroughs,”
McKeon said. “But with this program, we need partners.”
The program operates without
funding. The business or organization that adopts a public space
recycling receptacle, or PSR,
sets up a time and place for the
sanitation department to come
pick up the bags of items to be
recycled—for free.
The only cost to the group is
ﬁnding a place to store the bags
between pickups. The department even provides the bags.
The receptacles available are
for bottles and cans and for
paper. McKeon said that some
bins have to be emptied each
and every day, but many of them
need to be emptied only once or
twice a week. Sanitation picks up

the recycling at the same time
as they normally would for the
organization.
If an organization is interested
in adopting a PSR, they can
contact Community Board 8 or
the sanitation department and
someone will “come right out,”
McKeon said.
“We work with everybody
individually,” he added, saying he’s worked with business
imprvement districts, colleges,
residential buildings and even
other city agencies.
The existing bins in Community Board 8 are located in Van
Cortlandt Park and are managed
by the parks department.
The PSR bins have a 90 percent
purity rate, which means it’s rare
that garbage is thrown into the
recycling bins. At the time of
collection, if the bag looks like
it’s mostly garbage, Sanitation
will treat it like garbage so the
managing organization doesn’t
have to sort the contents.
Thomas Durham, a member
of the community board, said
this program will be great for
keeping Riverdale clean, allowing residents to discard cans and
paper into a receptacle rather
than on the streets.
“It’s better to control it at the
source, rather than the delta,”
he said.
McKeon said the cans are
light enough to be moved from
one block to the next but heavy
enough to avoid getting stolen.

He said they’ve had only one
receptacle stolen—by the production company that produced
the television show “Ugly Betty.”
The show denied the accidental
theft, he added.
The program involves a lot of

trial and error because, according
to the sanitation department,
businesses sometimes get lazy
about maintenance and cans
sometimes need to be moved to
a new location for better use or
convenience.

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GREAT TURKEY WALK-OFF
1 p.m. Cranberry Lake Preserve
Old Orchard Street
Eat too much pumpkin pie on Thursday? Are you feeling
a little sluggish? Make this post-feast hike part of your annual
tradition and your pants will be on the way to ﬁtting again. For
more information, call 914-428-1005.

Rye

VOLUNTEER WORK
1 p.m. Marshlands Conservancy
Route 1
Inspecting the Forest Restoration Area: This is a volunteer
work project. We will be removing invasive vines and other
debris to help protect the area. Great for community service
hours and school credit. Please bring work gloves. Hand tools
provided. Meet at the visitor center. For more information, call
914-835-4466.

ENERGY CONSERVATION
9 a.m. Greenburgh Public Library
Route 119
A panel of experts will discuss the successes and challenges of engaging a community to conserve energy during
the Conservation Café ‘Energy Conservation: Overcoming
Resistance.” For more information, call 914-864-7326.

Saturday, December 3
Yonkers

BIRDS, BIRDS, BIRDS
10 a.m. Lenoir Preserve
Dudley Street
An introduction to bird identiﬁcation. Join us as we view
images of common and some uncommon birds of our area.
Learn to use size, shape, and color in identifying birds. We will
use our new skills as we sit indoors to watch and identify birds
at Lenoir’s feeders. Make a journal to record your observations.
Bring binoculars if you have them. For more information, call
914-968-5851.

1 p.m. Trailside Nature Museum
Ward Pound Ridge Reservation
In a program designed for children, we will discuss how
the ﬂora and fauna of Westchester County deal with the cold
temperatures and short daylight hours. Through a craft project
we will also create our own creatures with unique wintering
techniques. For more information, call 914-864-7322.

Yonkers

THEATRE
2 p.m. Riverfront Library
One Larkin Center
Bring the whole family for a live performance of The Brave
Calf, a bi-lingual theatre piece presented by Hamm & Clov Stage
Company and performed by Teatro IATI. For more information,
call 914-963-6222 or visit www.hammandclov.org.

HOLIDAY DECORATIONS
1 p.m. Muscoot Farm
Route 100
Adults and children of all ages are invited to create their
own holiday cards and decorations. For more information,
call 914-864-7282.

Rye

SURVIVAL AT THE SANCTUARY
2 p.m. Marshlands Conservancy
Route 1
The naturalist will show you some hands-on techniques on
what to do if you “get stuck in the woods”. For more information, call 914-835-4466.

Rye

WINTER AT THE SALT MARSH
2 p.m. Marshlands Conservancy
Route 1
The salt marsh is anything but dead in winter. You’ll get a
perspective of the searing sound of the tide crashing into the ice
along the frozen shoreline. Please bring binoculars and dress
for the weather. For more information, call 914-835-4466.

Somers

CARING FOR HOLIDAY PLANTS
2 p.m. Lasdon Park
Route 35
Join Lasdon’s horticulturist in the Garden Shop. Bring your
questions about care of holiday plants as well as any other
indoor plants. For more information, call 914-864-7268.

Mt. Kisco

HIKE OFF THE TURKEY
10 a.m. Croton Point Nature Center
Croton Point Avenue
Get out and move this winter. Join us as we explore the beauty
of the Hudson. For more information, call 914-862-5297.

MURDER, MAYHEM & THE MALL
3 p.m. Merestead
455 Byram Lake Road
Featuring The Trial of Lizzie Borden by Robert Convery and
Before Breakfast by Thomas Pasatieri, with soprano Lauren
Flanigan. Includes meet-the-artist. For more information,
call 914-788-4659.

Rye

Thursday, December 8

Croton-on-Hudson

VOLUNTEER WORK
1 p.m. Marshlands Conservancy
Route 1
Preparing the Trails for the Winter: This is a volunteer
work project. We will clear woody debris, apply gravel and
remove any trash (if neccessary). Great for community service
hours and school credit. Please bring work gloves. Hand tools
provided. Meet at the visitors center. For more information,
call 914-835-4466.

Yonkers

North White Plains

Saturday, December 10

HOLIDAY NATURE CRAFTS
1 p.m. Cranberry Lake Preserve
Old Orchard Street
Grandparents love homemade gifts from their grandchildren
(or so they say). We’ll make creating these presents much easier
using materials provided by nature. Stop by anytime between 1
and 3 p.m. For more information, call 914-428-1005.

GENEALOGY
10 a.m. Westchester County Archives
2199 Saw Mill River Road
The Westchester County Genealogical Society welcomes
back Patrick Raftery with a talk on “The Cemeteries of Westchester County.” WCGS welcomes all interested in searching
their family roots. There will be refreshments and genealogical
networking starting at 9:30 a.m. For more information, call
Philomena Dunn at 914-953-9173.

The RIVERDALE REVIEW • Thursday, November 24, 2011

Friday, Nov. 25

Thursday, November 24, 2011 • The RIVERDALE REVIEW

14

15

The RIVERDALE REVIEW • Thursday, November 24, 2011

Thursday, November 24, 2011 • The RIVERDALE REVIEW

16

17

Youngsters 3-12 years old are invited to
participate in the Reading Program on Saturday, December 3, at the NEW Kingsbridge
Library, 291 West 231st Street, from 1 to 1:45
p.m. Readers will be grouped by skill level and
encouraged to read, helped with pronunciation and word understanding, and for those
without reading skills, interpret pictures.
There is no charge for participation.
The Rotary Club of Riverdale is part of
Rotary International and sponsors the library reading project as a local community
service. Adult volunteers who are interested
in participating are asked to contact Karen
Pesce, Secretary: (718) 549-4469.

Lehman Chorus to present
Winter Concert, Dec. 4

The Lehman College and Community
Chorus will present its annual free Winter
Concert on Sunday, December 4, at 2:30
p.m. in the Lehman Concert Hall.
Complimentary tickets will be available at the Box Ofﬁce beginning at 1 p.m.
on the day of the performance.
The major work on the program will
be Haydn’s Lord Nelson Mass. Directed by
Lehman Professor Diana Mittler-Battipaglia
and accompanied by the Lehman Sym-

phony Orchestra, the 140-member chorus
will also perform shorter works by Mendelssohn, Bruckner, Castelnuovo-Tedesco,
Handel and multicultural selections.
In addition, the program will feature
Telemann’s Concerto in G major for Two
Violas, a polka by Johann Strauss and a
sing-along for the audience.
Members of the chorus and soloists
include Lehman students, alumni, faculty,
staff and a broad selection of residents
from many communities in the Bronx
and the greater New York area.
A senior college of the City University
of New York, Lehman is located at Goulden Avenue and Bedford Park Boulevard in
the northwest Bronx and is accessible by
bus as well as the 4 and ‘D’ subway lines.
Free attended parking is available.
For reservations, call the Music Department at 718-960-8247 or e-mail music.
department@lehman.cuny.edu.

Lunch and Learn at the
Riverdale Y

The Simon Senior Center located at the
Riverdale YM-YWHA at 5625 Arlington Ave
invites all seniors from the community
and surrounding neighborhoods to a very
special lecture and luncheon with Professor
Saul Silas Fathi, author and historian on
Wednesday, November 30th at 12noon.

Professor Fathi will give a presentation on
the world’s trouble spots including Iraq, Iran
and Afghanistan with insights to the future
of US relations with these countries.
All are welcome to attend but advance
reservations are required. Admission is
$5.00 per person which includes a kosher
lunch. For further information please
contact Toby or Vicki at the Y @ 718-5488200 x223/224.

Theater (kid friendly). Enjoy interactive
Chanukah games, doughnut baking and
decorating, face painting, Chanukah
candle making and arts and crafts. So
come along with your friends and family and join the fun! The cost is $12 per
Child/Family Rate $30. * CELC Preschool
families discount-$10 per Child/Family
Rate $25. For more information please
call Fraidy at (718) 549-1100 x30.

Celebrate Chanukah with
Chabad of Riverdale

Winter event for baby
boomers and young seniors

The Giant Menorah will be lit on the 6th
night of Chanukah Sunday, December 25,
4:00pm at the Bell Tower Monument. Join
us for dancing, live music, hot latkes, donuts
and balloons. We will also light the Chanukah menorah on Tuesday, December 20th
& Wednesday, December 21st at 4:00pm,
Thursday, December 22nd at 5:15pm, Friday,
December 23rd at 3:00pm, Saturday, December 24th at 6:30pm, Monday, December 26th
and Tuesday, December 27th at 4:00pm. This
event is co-sponsored by Chabad Lubavitch
of Riverdale and Con Edison.
Sunday, December 18th from 10:30am12:30pm, bring the family to Chanukah
Wonderland. Join us at P.S. 24 (entrance
on W. 235th St.) for a performance by the
CELC Preschool Children! Plus a Spectacular Puppet Show by the Small Wonder

Forever Young is proud to introduce
our ﬁrst Wonderful Winter Warmer event.
This will take place at The Riverdale Y
located at: 5625 Arlington Avenue.
On December 4th from 1:00pm-2:30pm,
glaze your own mug ( perfect for a holiday
gift) while enjoying pastries and coffee with
great company. Price: Early Bird Special:
$20 after November 28: $25.
Forever Young is a new program at the
Riverdale Y created for the baby boomer
generation. Once a month there are special events and along with ongoing courses
that include: Introduction to Hebrew, The
Jewish Calendar’s Rich Culture, Everyone
Has an Opinion and more.
Please call Leora Garritano for more
information at 718-548-8200 ext. 204 or
email lgarritano@riverdaley.org

The RIVERDALE REVIEW • Thursday, November 24, 2011

Rotary Club to sponsor
reading hour

Thursday, November 24, 2011 • The RIVERDALE REVIEW

18

What is going on at P.S. 24?

When an uncertiﬁed teacher was illegally assigned to teach a
special education class by the principal, many teachers at P.S. 24
were shocked and dismayed. So why didn’t they take their objections to the principal and talk them out?
Fear.
Teachers were concerned that if they blew the whistle, or merely
complained, the principal would get back at them in one of the many
ways that an administrator has at his or her disposal. An unfavorable class assignment, an inconvenient schedule for preparation
periods, letters in their ﬁles, perhaps even an unfair and undeserved
unsatisfactory rating or denial or delay of tenure.
At P.S. 24 those fears may not be unfounded. For the past two
years around half of the teachers, when completing the ofﬁcial
Department of Education school survey forms, stated that they do
not trust the principal at her word. This is the reason that last year
the school received an “F” in the School Environment section of
the school report card, which barely improved to a “D” this year.
This is one of the worst rankings in the entire city.
So despite what some members of the politically-connected
leadership of the Parents Association might tell you, there is serious
tension between the principal and many of the most senior and
respected teachers in the school. Now some minor things may be
better off swept under the rug. But when uncertiﬁed teachers are
knowingly placed in sensitive classroom situations, in clear violation of both state and federal laws – laws designed to protect our
children – a line may have been crossed.
Understand that we never wrote so much as a word about this
matter. We merely inquired about it as a result of conversations
with teachers. And the fact that the questions had to be asked at
a level above the school, is a reﬂection of the lack of cooperation
we have had from the school since Donna Connelly became principal. If there was any mitigating circumstance that would have
prevented further inquiry, that was the time Dr. Connelly should
have responded. Once the Department of Education got wind of
this incident, they moved immediately to remove the teacher from
the classroom. We suspect that the zeal with which the city acted
had to do with concern for legal liability.
This was all unfortunate. Certainly for the teacher and surely for the
children. But it is the climate of secrecy and the open contempt for the
rules that dictated the result, certainly not an article never published.
Parents have a right to know who is teaching their children, and the public
has a right to expect education ofﬁcials to fully comply with the law.
Teachers here, acting in good faith and concern for the children
who feel that they can’t go through channels with their information,
value the fact that they can approach the two local newspapers, and
maintain their anonymity.
That the politically-compromised parent leadership of the P.S. 24
Parents Association has the chutzpah to order the staff not to talk to the
press, threatens to remove a basic right of free speech and free expression
that all Americans should enjoy. But then again this is the same clique
that wants to remove your right to read the Riverdale Review!
In truth, these clubhouse-connected parents have another agenda.
They blame the Riverdale Review for the shellacking of their political
leader, Anthony Perez Cassino, in the last City Council election. So
they desperately want to get us out of the way before Cassino’s planned
2013 campaign for the seat he lost last time out. They are sacriﬁcing
the well being of the children on the altar of political ambition.
Standing in their way are the dedicated teachers of P.S. 24, who
value the tradition of excellence at the school. They deserve better
than the threats they are getting from those with other agendas.
We are pleased that due to the efforts of some fair-minded parents,
we have gotten a response to an inquiry on a prize that the school
won. This is a positive development that could beneﬁt the children
of the school. On our end, we apologize to the parents at the school
uninvolved with the politics and the censorship campaign leveled
against us. They are not the thugs we referred to in our editorial last
week. The thugs are the ones who want to take away your right to
read this paper, and are attempting to shake down our advertisers
to cooperate with them – or else.

Angry crowd protest postal closings
Continued from Page 1
Oliver Koppell’s ofﬁce told the
crowd that he believed the
decision was being railroaded
through.
He noted that despite being
located less than a block away
from the Fieldston branch, the
councilman’s ofﬁce never received a survey for that station.
“It’s a shell game. They’re trying to sneak this in and say it’s a
study,” Sandler said.
“The study is wrong and it
needs to be re-evaluated. Notices
were not given out, and we didn’t
get a survey. The whole process
is ﬂawed.”
Former postal service worker
and Riverdale resident Sue McAnanama spoke out against the
plan and said people had a right
to expect reliable mail delivery.
“A postal service should deliver mail. It’s part of what we
expect as taxpayers,” she said.
“A civilized country like the
United States must provide that
service to its citizens. If it makes
money, great, but if it doesn’t,
tough. It’s still a service. It is
not meant to be a proﬁt-making
institution.”
However, fellow resident Rita
Freed believed it was pointless

to write letters protesting the
move.
She said people’s concerns
would fall on deaf ears and advocated instead for a more dynamic
approach.
“The only way that we’re going to make an impact is if we
have a class-wide mobilization
using the social power of the
working class,” she said.
“We have to strike and occupy,
and resist the cutbacks.”
Meanwhile, Congressman
Eliot L. Engel said he was puzzled
by the USPS plan.
In a statement circulated by
staffers at the event, Engel said

Opera stars come to Lehman College
Two of the Metropolitan Opera’s most promising young stars,
mezzo-soprano Renée Tatum and
bass-baritone Keith Miller, will be
appearing at Lehman College on
Dec. 8. The free concert, which
will be followed by a Q&A with the
artists, will be held at the Lovinger
Theatre in the College’s Music
Building at 7 p.m. The event is part
of the College’s yearlong celebration of the 80th anniversary of
Lehman’s historic campus.
Bass-baritone Keith Miller re-

it didn’t make sense that ofﬁcials
were charging more for services
while making access more difﬁcult and inconvenient.
“I am fed up with continued
bumbling from the Postal Service, who are pinning their ﬁnancial woes on seniors and working
families in New York and around
the nation rather than looking at
the real reasons why they have
lost money,” he said.
“The post ofﬁce needs to ﬁnd
ways to be more efﬁcient, not be
more secluded. It needs to waste
less, not deliver less often…the
post ofﬁce needs an overhaul,
not U-Hauls.”

turns to the Metropolitan Opera
this season for a new production
of Anna Bolena and Billy Budd,
and will make his debuts at the
Colorado Opera as Riolobo in
Florencia en Amazonas and at the
Utah Symphony in performances
of Berlioz’ L’Enfance du Christ.
Over the last several seasons Miller
has appeared in Metropolitan
Opera productions of Carmen,
Armida, Tosca, Salome, Madama
Butterﬂy, and Macbeth-each of
which were part of the The Met:
Live in HD series. He was also a
featured soloist in their inaugural
Summer Recital Series in New York
City. An ex-pro football player,
Miller studied voice at the prestigious Academy of Vocal Arts,
and was an Olympic Torch Bearer
for the 1996 Games in Atlanta.
For more information about this
performance or to reserve tickets,
please call the Ofﬁce of Alumni Relations at 718-960-2416 or email
alumni@lehman.cuny.edu.

By BRENDAN McHUGH
and MIAWLING LAM
There is a battle brewing in the Bronx
between residents and the United States
Postal Service. The USPS wants to close
34 post ofﬁces throughout New York City,
17 of which are located in the Bronx, in
a bid to close their $5.7 billion budget
black hole. We say go ahead and close a
few of them, but not before making the
technological advances that will keep
services at their current level.
Bronxites—many of them senior
citizens—are concerned they will not
be able to easily get to a different ofﬁce
further away.
It’s true. If certain post ofﬁces close,
residents of certain neighborhoods will
be forced to cross highways, travel around
large parks, and rely on infrequent and
spotty buses and subways to take care of
their mailing needs. Some will have to
travel uphill, both ways.
Over 100 Co-Op City residents rallied
outside the Einstein Loop Post Ofﬁce earlier this week, all of them fearing that if
the USPS closes that ofﬁce and the nearby
Dreiser Loop ofﬁce, they’ll be forced to
travel nearly two miles to the north end
of the neighborhood to the much larger
Conner Street Post Ofﬁce. Many of them
said they are on ﬁxed incomes and tight
schedules and aren’t sure how they will
make it there and back and still be able
to tend to day-to-day activities.
The more ofﬁces they close, the more
people will begin to rely on companies like
FedEx and UPS, thus dwindling the need

for post ofﬁces further. Or, those seniors
may one day ﬁnally ask their grandkids
to teach them email and Facebook.
And therein lies the solution. While
the rest of the country is attempting to
adjust to the technological age—newspapers heavily included—the postal service
seems to lag behind.
The USPS needs to do a better job adapting to the digital age. Whether that be
through a more advanced online presence
or more advance equipment, something
needs to change. Simply eliminating ofﬁces won’t sufﬁce in the long run.
When a post ofﬁce closes, the USPS
ﬁnds a nearby retail store to pick up part
of the slack, allowing the business to sell
stamps. That’s not enough. It’s time we
look at different solutions, like using of

the army of postal workers who canvas
the streets of New York each and every day
to provide more services to the people;
services such as picking up outgoing packages and selling stamps. If meter maids
can hand out parking tickets like they’re
candy, certainly postal workers can do
the same, but with stamps.
The postal service also needs to make
better use of the retail facilities, turning
them into lite versions of the post ofﬁce,
and not just a point of sale facility. Allow
these facilities to do many of the services
a normal post ofﬁce does, if only to speed
up the long lines when you ﬁnally do
make it the post ofﬁce.
The USPS had a net loss of $3.1 billion
in the third quarter this year and relies
only on sales of postage, products and

A Welcome Respite for You, Too.
Good Help to Those in Need®

P.S. 24

Continued from Page 1

raised objections with the tone.
The person underlined the sentence,
“This is not the ﬁrst time we have discussed
with you the threat to our school posed
by the Riverdale Review, but we do hope
it’s the last,” and commented, “We are
not children.”
The source also disputes the PA’s assertions that internal school issues can be
solved internally, arguing that Connelly
rules autocratically.
“There are no channels, only ‘I am the
principal. I am the principal,’” the person
commented.
As of press time, school ofﬁcials would
not discuss the matter.
In total, nine parent representatives,
including co-presidents Cori Worchel and
Stephanie Brooks, signed the letter.
Despite ordering staff to hush up,
the PA ofﬁcers were careful to take the
opportunity to thank teachers for their
efforts.
“P.S. 24 is a great school. Many smart,
hard-working adults are responsible for
its success. You are one of them,” the
letter states.
“But that hard-work is being undone
by a few individuals, who for reasons we
cannot fathom, would prefer to see P.S.
24’s hard-earned reputation damaged.
“We…ﬁrmly believe that an attack on
one school constituency is an attack on
us all. We know that most staff members
believe this to be true as well.”
But this doesn’t hold water with many
teachers, who noted that on the “Learning
Environment” results on the school report
card issued by the Department of Education, 49 percent of the staff noted that they
don’t “trust the principal at his/her word,”
slightly down from the 56 percent that
expressed that same opinion last year.

At Bon Secours, moments of “good help”
happen every minute of every day. Our
respite care suites provide a home away
from home for loved ones who depend on
you, so that you can take a vacation, go
away on business or attend to your own
needs knowing they’ll receive individualized
care in a secure and nurturing environment.

For more information or to schedule
a tour, call the Schervier Resource &
Referral Center at 718-884-5100

services to fund its operations. Total mail
volume declined to 39.8 billion pieces
compared to the same time last year
which was 40.9 billion pieces, a decrease
of 2.6 percent.
The Bronx is taking an unfair share of
the burden with this post ofﬁce shrinkage
strategy. Half of the 34 ofﬁces set for possible closure are in our borough. The Feds,
for some reason, always want to dump on
the Bronx, whether it be eliminating post
ofﬁces or adding homeless facilities.
At least with post ofﬁces, they can make
certain efforts to ensure Bronxites aren’t
totally left high and dry.
Looking to the future, as the world
becomes more technologically advanced,
the postal services will become less and
less important. Now is the time for ﬁnding ways to redeﬁne the role of the postal
service rather than trying to hold on to a
stagnant institution.